City Insider : Marijuana hotspots vs. Starbucks — who wins?

There are more medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco than Starbucks Coffee shops. Or at least, so says the Office of National Drug Control Policy in a posting on its official blog, pushingback.com.

The feds contend there are 98 marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco, compared to 71 Starbucks Coffee shops. They even provide a Google map mashup showing the supposed locations of both.

San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, which issues permits for medical marijuana dispensaries, is befuddled by the federal data.

DPH lists 24 dispensaries in the city that either have permits or are trying to obtain one.

When asked for the data used to create the map, [Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy,] provided a list with 74 entries for marijuana dispensaries, not the 98 claimed.

Of the 74, six of them don’t list addresses in San Francisco. Five of those say they offer marijuana delivery service to the city, while a sixth is in Los Angeles.

Of those with city addresses, some are clearly marijuana dispensaries, like The Vapor Room on Haight Street. But other listings include 12 Galaxies, the Mission District nightclub that closed in August, and businesses with defunct Web sites and phone numbers that just ring and ring.

The data also has at least one double listing. It includes both ACT UP, the AIDS organization that used to run a dispensary at 1884 Market St., and Market Street Cooperative, which currently operates the dispensary at that location.

Bottom line though: the data the feds turned over listed less than 71 actual marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco, meaning Starbucks wins.

No, bottom line is that the ONDCP has no problem lying the American people in order to maintain its prohibition on cannabis.  In fact, the Drug Czar is actually required to lie to the American people about medical marijuana; it’s in the job description.

But that misses the point, which is, who cares how many dispensaries are in San Francisco?  Did Californians not vote to support medical marijuana?  Is it not legal in the state?  Have the people of San Francisco decided to not allow dispensaries?  Are San Franciscans suddenly rising up to protest the number of dispensaries?  

The Drug Czar continues to push the theme that the states have been “duped” by medical marijuana advocates manipulating the natural compassion for sick people as a Trojan Horse scheme to let freaks get high legally.  First, with a hat tip to Bill Hicks, I love the idea that we pot-smoking dope-legalizers are so effective and clever as to be able to fool voters and legislators in sixteen of the seventeen states and districts where we’ve asked* – it sort of invalidates all that “pot makes you stupid, amotivated, and unsuccessful” talk.

And second I wonder why the Drug Czar never considers that perhaps Californians know exactly what is going on with medical marijuana dispensaries and they like it just fine!  Whoa, people that used to buy dope illegally on the streets and feeding into criminal profits are now buying it in nice secure storefronts with security cameras and feeding into state sales tax revenue.  What a concept.  Whoa, people who used to sneak around and smoke dope on the sly now have to go at least see a doctor and follow a set of rules.    And maybe for every relatively healthy “anxiety” or “insomnia” customer bankrupting a street dealer by buying in a dispensary, there are also a few cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, MS, lupus, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, and epilepsy patients whose lives are remarkably better because they can buy some cannabis without having to rely on a shady character in park.

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Wow, Paul must have struck a nerve. The Drug Czar’s blog is linking to his debunk of the marijuana potency report:

Setting the Record Straight: Marijuana Potency

Over the past week, the University of Mississippi’s reporting of the highest-ever levels of THC in U.S. marijuana has been picked up by hundreds of media outlets (including some in the UK). We’re pleased that this important health information is getting into the hands of parents. Hopefully, responsible adults will have critical conversations with young people about the serious health consequences associated with today’s pot.

Given the wide reach of the report, it’s no surprise that pro-marijuana lobbyists whose goals are to legalize drugs in the United States have attempted to counter the research-based evidence about increased marijuana potency.

Did you catch how they did that? “Pro-marijuana lobbyists whose goals are to legalize drugs”. They always must tie “cannabis” to “drugs”, because nobody’s that afraid of cannabis, but most everybody fears drugs. Here let me try: It’s no surprise that prohibition-supporting bureaucrats whose goals are to eliminate competition to pharmaceuticals have attempted to propagandize marijuana potency as some sort of health concern. Hey, that’s fun!

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